When Luhan arrives to Li Corporations the sun has long set, and the windows are a shiny onyx color. Within the company’s parking garage only a few cars remain, regardless the company is still open. The important offices at least are still running.

 Li Corporations is like a second home to Luhan, the amount of times he visited made it seem that way. The receptionist, a beautiful woman with red hair greets him with her usual smile as he heads towards the elevator.

“Kris Wu, didn’t I bring you a book about the cons of overworking yourself,” Luhan asks with a grin, slipping his brand name sunglasses off and smiling at the man in front of him. “Should I bring a physician next time so he can lecture you?”

He takes a seat in one of the soft leather seats, and rests his head on his hand.  Kris looks away from his computer to glare at Luhan as he presses a button on the intercom like device on his desk.

“Jongdae what did I say about letting Luhan in,” Kris asks.

“Did you forget what I said about Luhan letting himself in,” Jongdae retorts, his voice is a bit whiney and the static of the intercom makes it crackle. Luhan has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing.

Kris sits back on his desk chair, the wheels pushing him slightly away from his desk as he stares blankly at Luhan. “What do you want,” he asks.

“Here for my monthly visit,” Luhan explains, he leans forward in his chair to grin wickedly at Kris. “Kris Wu, Wu Yifan, how have you been my dear friend?”

“Busy,” Kris retorts. He rolls his eyes, going back to his computer to finish up his work. “Are you really here for me or are you here because I’m technically your only friend at the moment.” He has a hint of a grin on his face, and Luhan grins wider. Kris always looked so serious when he wasn’t smiling especially when he was dressed in his expensive corporate suits. Kris liked it though; the intimidation he naturally brought made people do their jobs without complaint.

Luhan slips his leather jacket off his broad shoulders, the room’s moderately temperate but looking continuously at Kris in his suit is making Luhan feel stuffy. “Technically?” Luhan asks. “I’m not the only one that only has one friend. Kris if I wasn’t such a good friend you’d be friendless.”

“How’d we become friends again,” Kris asks sarcastically.

“Perfect gene support group,” Luhan replies, “We both lost our moms and have pretty crappy father figures.”

“At least you’re not related to yours,” Kris retorts. Luhan laughs and so does Kris even though it’s softer than Luhan’s.

“It’s always a competition with us isn’t it,” Luhan asks.

“You win,” Kris says. “You always win. If I went through half the crap you went through I would have checked myself into a mental asylum long ago.”

“So Luhan you know how my life has been so far,” Kris starts, he chuckles lightly and his eyes shine in amusement at playing along with the older male. “How have you been?”

“Well Kris,” Luhan says with a grin. “I’m glad you asked. I’ve been living well. Yesterday I had a shoot with the kids for a commercial, for some sort of product, and then had to meet with President Kim. I met his new secretary. It’s a boy by the way. I also spent my company with a nice man last night. Today I had a shoot with ML Magazine, I’m sure you don’t know what that is, but I missed it.”

He finishes his explanation of his last two days and waits for Kris’s input. It was a rather common exchange between the two. Luhan would come, interrupt Kris’s incessant working, complain about his life, and then Kris would state his opinion or give advice.

“You missed a shoot,” Kris asks. “Well you’re alive so I’m guessing President Kim managed to not strangle you. How are you still alive Lu, ML Magazine is getting pretty big.”

“He didn’t even want to see me,” Luhan says, he sounds like he’s bragging. “I got the shoot rescheduled though. You know how those fashion people work Kris. We’re all egotistical people with high working libidos. We’ll do anything for a bit of attention and good .” Kris grimaces and Luhan doesn’t know rather to grin a bit more or pity the man in front of him.

“President Kim has a new secretary,” Kris says suddenly changing the subject. “It’s a he? Is he your type or something? You normally don’t pay attention to his staff, and if you do, you normally don’t tell me about them.”

“He’s baby-faced,” Luhan explains. “He’s got cheeks that remind me of…” He trails off then pursing his lips together to think of how to describe Minseok’s cheeks. “A baby’s,” he asks himself, slightly flustered at his lack of imaginative adjectives. “He’s just really adorable. He’s our age though.”

“You sound infatuated,” Kris says. “It’s strange. What’s his name?”

“Kim Minseok,” Luhan answers. “I admit, I am interested but it’s not in that way yet. Minseok’s a pretty interesting person. He has to be if President Kim hired him.”

“Do I have to give you the speech or will you control your hormones?”

“He’s not my type,” Luhan states waving his hand dismissively. “Speaking of types, how’s the newest bridal candidate.” Kris had been going on different dates, set up by his father to find a wife for him and to continue the legacy. The younger male had a lot of complaints when it came to his father, but the bridal search wasn’t one of them.  Kris was a young eligible bachelor, but his focus on work made him completely closed off to love.

“She’s a lesbian,” Kris tells him.

“Is that code for not your type or,” Luhan pauses, trailing off a bit.

“She’s an actual lesbian,” Kris explains. “She has a girlfriend and everything. Apparently her girlfriend’s net worth is lower than mine, that is why her parents wanted to pawn her off to me.”

“The rich are truly in a class of their own,” Luhan says. He starts off serious but then breaks into small laugh.

He stands reluctantly and Kris does the same. “Done with work,” Luhan asks as he picks up his jacket.

“Going to dinner,” Kris says, “as per Jongdae’s demand.” He slips from around his desk and walks to his door holding it open for Luhan.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I liked Jongdae,” Luhan asks.

“Are you coming with us Luhan,” Jongdae asks, he’s in the middle of putting on his suit jacket, grin on his lips as he looks over to the two older men.

“No thanks,” Luhan says. “I have a half-empty bottle of Brandy at home calling my name.” Kris grimaces, face full of open disapproval.

Luhan leaves with the pair, just as it begins to rain. Small drops of water sprinkles down to the earth lightly, darkening the already grey streets and buildings to an almost black color. The smell of city rain is the most unique of all smells. It’s not really a pleasant smell but Luhan gets a whiff of it as he heads to his car inside the parking deck.

“Lu,” Kris calls to him as Luhan reaches his car. Luhan pauses with the door open, turning towards Kris with a raised eyebrow. Kris jogs towards him, the slaps of his expensive leather shoes against the damp pavement, echo in the air. One of Kris large hands comes down to grasp his shoulder and Luhan frowns a bit. “Be safe. I don’t need you of all people doing something stupid.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Luhan asks.

“If you’d watch the news you‘d know that the rebels are getting worse,” Kris explains. “It’s been said that they’re going after high people now.

“Like CBS’s former boss,” Luhan asks.

“Yeah, she’s not getting amnesty though, she actively joined them, even if she was tricked in the beginning. Anyway, you’re a celebrity even if you don’t believe it, you could be targeted.”

Luhan smiles reassuringly at Kris. “Don’t worry,” he says softly. “You’re better off worrying about yourself. They’re more likely to come after the son of the CEO working with the Great Ruler than a lowlife model.”

Kris opens his mouth as if he’s going to counter what Luhan is going to say but he decides against it, and quickly closes his mouth. “Just stay safe,” he mumbles a moment later. Luhan watches as Kris stuffs his hands into his coat’s pockets and shuffles backwards for a bit before turning on his heels and heading towards the black luxury car. Luhan can see Jongdae’s shadow when Kris opens the door, and he lifts a hand up in a lazy attempt at a goodbye wave as Kris gets in the car.

Kris will be safe, Luhan reassures himself as he enters his own car, and starts the engine. The loud instrumental of neo-jazz fills the car as he grips the steering wheel.  Kris lived in a highly secure house in the middle of District one, and he always had a bodyguard or someone with the same qualifying skills accompanying him when he wasn’t at home or in the office.

Luhan too, would be safe. He was the golden boy of Nessen, and President Kim was known to have connections with the Great Ruler, but Luhan would be okay. The world knew that Luhan was merely a dollar sign to President Kim and hurting him would lead to a new golden boy and with it the same news coverage as hurting any other Perfect. It wouldn’t be something that would go down in history it would just be something tragic.

I'm warning you now that I'm going to take my time with the progress. I'm not good at gradually pacing things so far it's been going well. Thank you everyone that has subscribed.